Mourners honor Nobel laureate and peace advocate John Hume
London, UKAP Mourners remembered activist John Hume on Wednesday, celebrating the visionary politician who devoted his life to peace and forged the agreement that ended violence in his native Northern Ireland. Only close family, friends and a smattering of politicians mourned the Catholic leader at his funeral at St Eugene’s Cathedral in Londonderry, also known […]
Beirut reels from huge blast as death toll climbs to at least 135
Beirut, LebanonReuters Lebanese rescue teams pulled out bodies and hunted for missing in the wreckage of buildings on Wednesday as investigations blamed negligence for a massive warehouse explosion that sent a devastating blast wave across Beirut, killing at least 135. More than 5,000 other people were injured in Tuesday’s explosion at Beirut port, Health Minister […]
Toll expected to rise in blast that shook Beirut, killing 100, injuring thousands
Beirut, LebanonReuters Lebanese rescue workers dug through rubble looking for survivors of a powerful warehouse explosion that shook the capital Beirut, killing 100 people and injuring nearly 4,000 in a toll that officials expected to rise. Tuesday’s blast at port warehouses storing highly explosive material was the most powerful in years in Beirut, already reeling […]
Updated: Global coronavirus deaths exceed 700,000, one person dies every 15 seconds on average
Updated: 5.20pm (AEST)Reuters The global death toll from COVID-19 surpassed 700,000 on Wednesday, according to a Reuters tally, with the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico leading the rise in fatalities. Nearly 5,900 people are dying every 24 hours from COVID-19 on average, according to Reuters calculations based on data from the past two weeks. […]
“It came alive”: Astronauts recount wild ride home on SpaceX’s Crew Dragon
Reuters US astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, home two days from a landmark mission as NASA’s first crew to fly a privately built vehicle into orbit, recounted on Tuesday the loud, jarring ride they experienced through Earth’s atmosphere before a safe landing at sea. Their splash-down on Sunday in the Gulf of Mexico off […]
StrangeSights: ‘Model’ diners; a tax refund from Mickey Mouse; and, a treasure trove…
DAVID ADAMS looks at the odder side of life…
UN chief warns world facing “generational catastrophe” on education
United NationsReuters UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Tuesday that the world faces a “generational catastrophe” because of school closures amid the coronavirus pandemic and said that getting students safely back to the classroom must be “a top priority.” Guterres said that as of mid-July schools were closed in some 160 countries, affecting more than […]
World Council of Churches and ACT Alliance appeal to Mozambique’s President to tackle “unacceptable violence” in northern and central provinces
The World Council of Churches and ACT Alliance has expressed concern over the number of violent attacks involving armed groups in the country’s northern and central provinces in recent years and urged Mozambique’s President Filipe Nyusi to intervene and “put an end to these atrocities”. In a letter to the President, the WCC, which represents more […]
Disputed territory: India’s residency law in Kashmir amplifies demographic fears
SHEIKH SAALIQ and AIJAZ HUSSAIN, of Associated Press, report…
At-risk Caribbean scrambles to prepare for hurricanes during pandemic
Bogota, ColombiaThomson Reuters Foundation Caribbean nations were scrambling to adapt storm shelters to prevent the spread of coronavirus and stock up on supplies, with thousands of people already evacuating their homes as the hurricane season gets underway, aid agencies warned on Monday. A busier than normal Atlantic Ocean hurricane season has been predicted for 2020, […]